Role of Safety Ref?
- To facilitate communication between Workers & Management
- To support good Safety Management on-site
- Consult with Employer & Employees
- Evaluate Safety
- Make decision on H&S issues
- Accident investigation
- Safety Auditing / Safety Inspections
Relations in Safety
<>Management <> Employees <> Safety Rep/Committee <>
Effective Communication
- It’s involves a 2 way street
- Involves active listening
- Reflects the accountability of speaker and listener
- Utilizes feedback
- Free of stress
- It’s clear and concise
Effective Communication
Sender > message > Receiver
Receiver > feedback > Sender
Purpose of Safety Committee
- Establish H&S policies
- Establish H&S programs
- Deal with ongoing safety issues
- Support management in safety policies
- Develop safety systems
- Undertake proactive programs
- Review the Safety Statement and RA’s
- Monitor the H&S communication methods
- Study accident statistics
- Plan H&S activities
- Conduct Safety awareness programs
- Partake in Safety week
- Make Safety recommendations
- Carry out RAs
Safety Committee structure
- Chairperson
- Secretary
- Ordinary members
- Specialists on invitation
- Publicity person
Member duties
- Regular attendance of the meetings
- Feedback to/from committee
- On-going Safety actions
- Hazard identification /RAs
- Promote H&S
- Represent fellow workers
Why carry out a RA?
- Legal requirement - Section 19 of 2005 Act
- Rank risk for prioritization
- Identify steps to reduce risks
- Risk assessing is the basis of safety ( eg. provide training, develop procedure, etc)
- Ultimately, to prevent ACCIDENTS
What is a Hazard?
- A state, condition or practice with a potential to cause damage, ill health, injury or loss.
- Something with potential to cause harm.
Hazard examples
- Substances: Chemicals
- Energy sources: Machinery with moving parts
- Work practices: Working at heights
What is a Risk?
- The likelihood of harm arising from a hazard
Assess the Risk?
Probability vs Severity
Low - Moderate - High
Whats an INCIDENT?
Any unplanned & undesired event or occurrence which may or may not result in injury or damage to the person/property.
Whats an ACCIDENT?
An unplanned event which does result in personal injury, damage to equipment, environment, plant or product.
Whats an NEAR MISS?
An unplanned event which does not result in personal injury or damage to equipment/property, etc….but could have.
Factors causing accidents?
- Inadequate knowledge and information
- Inadequate / Little on NO skills / training
- Unsafe systems
- Unsafe layout
- Plant equipment failure
- Miss-guided attitude
- Inadequate / Little or NO resurses
Reasons for investigating Accidents?
- To prevent similar accidents from accidents from happening again
- Statutory duty: IR1 & IR3 forms
- Defence (in compensation claims)
- Insurers will require it
- Moral obligations
- Evaluation tool - Collect information
- Identify CA’s - Correction actions
- Gain knowledge
- Make improvements
- Identify deficiencies
IR1 form
> More than 3 consecutive days from the normal activities, not including the day of the accident
- Fatality
- Accidents
- Non-employees included
IR3 form
Dangerous occurrence
- Collapse of a scaffold
- Collapse of a building
- Collapse of an excavation
Guide to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007
Regulation 28: Duties of employer, use of work equipment
- An employer shall ensure that—
(a) any work equipment provided for use by employees at a place of
work complies, as appropriate, with the provisions of any relevant
enactment implementing any relevant Directive of the European
Communities
SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE AT WORK ACT 2005
PART 3
Protective and Preventive Measures
Section 19. Hazard identification and risk assessment.
19.—(1) Every employer shall identify the hazards in the place of
work under his or her control, assess the risks presented by those
hazards and be in possession of a written assessment (to be known
and referred to in this Act as a “risk assessment”) of the risks to the
safety, health and welfare at work of his or her employees, including
the safety, health and welfare of any single employee or group or
groups of employees who may be exposed to any unusual or other
risks under the relevant statutory provisions.
SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE AT WORK ACT 2005
Section 8
- The development of an adequate prevention policy in relation
to safety, health and welfare at work, which takes account of technology,
organisation of work, working conditions, social factors and
the influence of factors related to the working environment.
